Ring of Fire - Horseshoe Bend

On May 20, 2012 - I captured this remarkable event of the Annular Solar Eclipse at Horseshoe Bend in Northern Arizona. I wanted this image to tell the epic story of the circle of time, with grandeur of the great bend of the Colorado and the blazing ring of fire in the sky.
I’ve been developing a technique that would render images with three improved attributes:extreme high dynamic range, consistent color tonality, and extreme resolution.
This large 1.78 gigabyte composite image measuring 22500x14250. That is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 320 megabit CCD. This image is made from about 48 images, 30 frames were shot with a Canon 5dmk3 with a 24mm lens with a 3 frame per shot in-camera HDR that make up the body of the image and 18 frames shot with a Canon 5dmk2 with a 400mm for the composited eclipse of the sun in place over the canyon.
What make this a fun image is the hundreds of photographers all capturing this extraordinary event lining the canyon rim with a thousand foot drop down to the Colorado River below. If you could zoom into the high resolution data of the image you would see a sandbar just across the river, you would see two guys in canoes on the beach. These guys stayed in the shadow of that mountain and never saw the eclipse at all. I wonder what they thought a thousand photographers were looking at?
If you would be interested in purchasing a high quality print (it looks great on metallic stock) or publish this image. Please contact me at: melandercl@gmail.com Thank you for respecting my Copyright. Thank you. Clint
You can find more details on how this image was shot.
Here at 500px.com/melandercl/stories
or
http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/blog/behind-the-shot/2013/05/behind-the-shot-the-ring-of-fire-over-horseshoe-bend-colorado-river-page-arizona.html

Inside the Mother-Lode, Antelope Canyon

05-19-2012 This 8 pan image was shot with 3 frame in Camera HDR on the Canon 5dmk3 @24mm and measures 5653x7464. That is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 42 megabit CCD. Stitched in CS5 and finished in LR4.

High Water Mark, Antelope Canyon

05-19-2012 This pole was jammed high in the canyon walls. This image was shot with the Canon 5dmk3 @24mm and is made up of multiple HDR frames measuring 8809x8432. That is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 74 megabit CCD.

Light on Zion's Virgin River

05-18-2012 Afternoon backlight on the Virgin River…. This award winning panoramic image measuring 15503x9599 pixels. That is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 148 megabit CCD. This image is made up from about 60 HDR frames stitched together in CS6 and finished in LR4. Each of the 60 HDR frames were made up of three frames each from the in camera HDR setting. So…about 180 shutter activations to create this image. This technique blows away other single frame so called high resolution cameras both in resolution and in color depth. It renders photographic images with three improved attributes: True bit depth color or True HDR, consistent color tonality, and extreme resolution.

Arches of Light Panoramic

"Arches of Light" Sunset in Arches National Park
This award winning image measures 10552 x 6044 panoramic HDR image. That is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 64 megabit CCD. Stitched with CS5 and finished with LR3. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 21mm Carl Zeiss @ f11 with an average exposure time of about 1/100 sec. ISO 640.

Washington Cruising Whale Panoramic

Cape Flattery (the furthermost North West point in the lower 48) in Washington. If you look closely you will see a whale swimming into the middle cove. Aug. 30, 2009, panoramic photograph made up of about 30 shots. Canon 5DMK2, 24mm f5.6 original size 9424 x 9056. That is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 85 megabit CCD.

Park Avenue, Arches National Park 2

Park Avenue, Arches National Park measures 23668 x 9408 panoramic image stitched with CS5. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 24mm @ f 14 with an average exposure time of about 1/800 sec. ISO 640. It was finished with LR3.

Uinta Dark Sky Milky Way

Uinta Dark Sky Milky Way, shot with the remarkable AstroTrac TT320AG head. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 21mm Carl Zeiss @ f 2.8 with an exposure time of about 10 minutes. ISO 3200. No stacking, although noise reduction was enabled. It was finished with LR3.

Stanly Idaho Sunset panoramic HDR

Stanly Idaho Sunset panoramic HDR image, measures 7764x3679 stitched with CS5. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 21mm Carl Zeiss @ f 2.8 with an average exposure time of about 3.2 sec. ISO 200. It was finished with LR3.

Pony Express cabin HDR inside

Pony Express cabin HDR landscape

Utah West Desert Moon & Sunset panoramic

Utah West Desert Moon & Sunset panoramic image, measures 5614x3740 stitched with CS5. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 21mm Carl Zeiss @ f 7.1 with an average exposure time of about 5 sec. ISO 200. It was finished with LR3.

Provo Falls - Uinta Mountains

Provo Falls - Uinta Mountains, Utah shot in the water measures 21480 x 9056. That is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 194 megabit CCD. It was stitched together with CS5. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 24mm @ f 14 with an average exposure time of about 1/15 sec. ISO 200. It was finished with LR3.

Sawtooth Morning panoramic

Sawtooth Morning is another remarkable image. The original panoramic image measures 48”x152” or 11605 x 36712 (2.38GB). That is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 426 megabit CCD. About 200 images were captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 105mm @ f 22 with an average exposure time of about 1/250 sec. ISO 640. It was stitched with CS5 and finished with LR3, and Nik.

08-07-2010 Yellowstone Canyon Water Fall 05

Yellowstone Canyon Falls measures 12498 x 19036 extra-large panoramic stitched image was created with CS5. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 400mm @ f 5.6 with an average exposure time of about 1/250 sec. ISO 200. It was finished with LR3. If you could zoom into the image you could clearly see about 30 people at various locations in the image, and 2 swallows flying through the mist of the falls.

Yellowstone Canyon Water Fall

Yellowstone Canyon Falls measures 9198 x 7287 panoramic image stitched with CS5. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 70mm @ f 7.1 with an average exposure time of about 1/500 sec. ISO 200. It was finished with LR3. The clouds created high contrast with highlight and shadow moving across the landscape.

2011-09-04 Utah West Desert Moon & Sunset, Panoramic

Utah West Desert Moon & Sunset panoramic image, measures 9939 x 2510 stitched with CS5. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 21mm Carl Zeiss @ f 7.1 with an average exposure time of about 1/6 sec. ISO 200. It was finished with LR3.

Arches - Park Avenue Sunset, Panoramic

Arches - Park Avenue Sunset. Measures 11072 x 6480 panoramic image stitched with CS5. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 24mm @ f 14 with an average exposure time of about 1/500 sec. ISO 640. It was finished in LR3 and Nik

Arches - Park Avenue Sunset Sunflowers, Panoramic

Arches - Park Avenue Sunset Sunflowers, measures 108009 x 7200 panoramic image stitched with CS5. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 24mm @ f 14 with an average exposure time of about 1/250 sec. ISO 640. It was finished in LR3 and Nik.

Grand Jean, Idaho Panoramic

Grand Jean Idaho, looking east towards the Sawthooths mountain range. Measures 25828 x 12500 panoramic image stitched with CS5. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 105mm @ f 22 with an average exposure time of about 1/250 sec. ISO 640. It was finished in LR3 and Nik.

Fish Lake Reflections Panoramic

Fish Lake Reflections measures 14077 x 9724 panoramic image stitched with CS5. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 24mm @ f 22 with an average exposure time of about 1/125 sec. ISO 640. It was finished with LR3.

Park Avenue, Arches National Park

Park Avenue, Arches National Park measures 5592 x 3704 panoramic image stitched with CS5. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 21mm Carl Zeiss @ f 2.8 with an average exposure time of about 1/200 sec. ISO 320. It was finished with LR3.

Morning Canyon Sunrise

Morning Canyon Sunrise near Hwy 6 Utah, measures 20761 x 7180 panoramic image stitched with CS5. The image was captured with a Canon 5D MK2 with a 24mm @ f 22 with an average exposure time of about 1/800 sec. ISO 3200. It was finished with LR3.

Fly Over Fences

Yosemite Fogy Sunset

Fogy Sunset looking west toward Cathedral Rocks in Yosemite valley late November. This 50 frame image was captured with a Canon 5dmk3 and a 24 mm The image was stitch in CS6 and finished in LR4. Final size is 13717x7382 that is the equivalent of a 101 megapixel capture.

Yosemite Reflection on the Merced River

Early morning still water reflections of Yosemite on the Merced River. This 60 frame image was captured with a Canon 5dmk3 ans a 24mm. The image was stitch in CS6 and finished in LR4. Final size is 14181x9217 that is the equivalent of a 130 megapixel capture. Extremely detailed image.

Yosemite Merced River Rock Reflections

Merced River Rock Reflections looking east toward Cathedral Rock. This 60 frame image was captured with a Canon 5dmk3 and a 24 mm The image was stitch in CS6 and finished in LR4. Final size is 14144x8114 that is the equivalent of a 114 megapixel capture.

November Medow at Cathedral Rock Yosemite

Cathedral Rock in Yosemite late November. This 32 frame image was captured with a Canon 5dmk3 and a 24 mm The image was stitch in CS6 and finished in LR4. Final size is 13475x6285 that is the equivalent of a 84 megapixel capture.

Yosemite Sunrise Medow

Sunrise looking toward Cathedral Rocks in Yosemite Park. This 68 frame image was captured with a Canon 5dmk3 and a 24mm The image was stitch in CS6 and finished in LR4. Final size is 16924x9692 that is the equivalent of a 164 megapixel capture.

Yosemite Oak on the Merced River

Oak on the Merced River looking toward Cathedral Rocks in Yosemite valley. This 30 frame image was captured with a Canon 5dmk3 and a 24mm The image was stitch in CS6 and finished in LR4. Final size is 13008x9615 that is the equivalent of a 125 megapixel capture.

Moonlight meadow looking toward Cathedral Rocks in Yosemite Park

Moonlight meadow, Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Park,Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls. This 30 frame image was captured with a Canon 5dmk3 and a 24mm The image was stitch in CS6 and finished in LR4. Final size is 12392x7435 that is the equivalent of a 92 megapixel capture.

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls. This 30 frame image was captured with a Canon 5dmk3 and a 24mm The image was stitch in CS6 and finished in LR4. Final size is 12392x7435 that is the equivalent of a 92 megapixel capture.

Night in Yosemite Valley

Night in Yosemite Valley. (Tunnel View) This 60 frame image was captured with a Canon 5dmk3 and a 105mm The image was stitch in CS6 and finished in LR4. Final size is 18421x10239 that is the equivalent of a 188 megapixel capture. The moon and stars are lighting the nightscape. The bright star in cent image is Venus. If you look about a quarter of the height up El Capitan you will see a faint light of some climbers with their flashlights, sleeping on the side of the vertical world of El Capitan.

Sun Dog over Hidden Peak

Sun Dog over Hidden Peak, high altitude ice crystals refract sun light as to display a circular bow in the sky. This image is made up of 50 High Dynamic Range frames measuring 13080x8790 which is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 114 megapixel camera.

Santaquin Foot Hills

Standing on the Santaquin foot hills looking west across the Utah winter desert valley. This image was made up of multiple HDR frames measuring 21192 x 8364 which is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 177 megapixel camera.

Upper Christmas Meadows - Moose & Canadian Geese

Night in Christmas Meadows

Night Landscape of Christmas Meadows. Made from multiple frames stitched with Kolor Autopan, adjustment wit CS6 and LR5.Sometimes night photography can be a little scary. Standing in a remote mountain locations late at night sometimes for hours and usually by myself you can have some hair-raising experiences. Shooting this photograph, I was standing next to the Bear River for several hours capturing the remarkable night image of Christmas Meadows. The meadow was illuminated by a full moon just before midnight all of a sudden someone (I thought) through a good size rock into the river about 15-20 feet from my location causing a tremendous splash in the river. I was surprised and shocked looking around I immediately pulled out a high powered flash light looking around and towards the tree line about 75 yards away, wondering who could through a rock that big that far? I was looking for eyeballs looking back at me in the dark, but I could see nothing. I had bear spray and a 9mm that I always carry when I’m out photographing alone. I thought whoever was throwing rocks at me would not win because I armed. Then after a few minutes out of the corner of my eye, I saw a ripple of water in the river between me and the moon light. I saw this giant beaver swimming under water, upstream surfacing on the far side of the river. When he surfaced he again saw me again standing on the bank of the river. He arched his back and with tremendous force slapped his large flat tail to the water creating a giant splash in the air. This is just one of the reason I love night photography…the unexpected surprise!

South Mountain, High Step Road

Yosemite's Bridalvail Falls Reflections

Yosemite's Bridalvail Falls reflections. This 30 frame image was captured with a Canon 5dmk3 and a 24 mm The image was stitch in CS6 and finished in LR4. Final size is 12193x8527 that is the equivalent of a 103 megapixel capture.

Upper Yosemite Merced Stream

Upper Yosemite Merced Stream in late November. This image is made up of 52 frames, captured with a Canon 5dmk3 at 24mm The image was stitch in CS6 and finished in LR4. Final size is 15454x8812 that is the equivalent of a 136 megapixel capture.

Blue Shale in Big Cottonwood Canyon

Blue Shale crop out in lower gorge of Big Cottonwood Canyon of the Wasatch Mountains. This image was created from 32 frames stitched and finished using LR5, Kolor, and CS6. Shot with a Canon 5dmk3 and a 24-105mm. The image measurers 15018x7864 which is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 118 megapixel camera.

Brighton's Silver Lake

Silver Lake near Brighton at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon of the Wasatch Mountains. This image was created from 31 frames stitched and finished using LR5, Kolor, and CS6. Shot with a Canon 5dmk3 and a 24-105mm. The image measurers 13602x8209 which is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 111 megapixel camera.

Evening Moon over the Sawtooth Range

Evening Moon over the Sawtooth Range in Idaho. The forest fire (clouds in the background) burning 30 miles away cools down at night and seem to almost clear up until the heat of the next day and then continues to consume the old to give life to the new. This image was created by stacking 26 frames together into one image to reduce shadow noise and increase dynamic range.

The Grotto, Payson Canyon, Utah

The Grotto waterfall in Payson Canyon, Utah This image was made up of 30 High Dynamic Range frames, stitched together with Kolor and CC2014 and finished in LR5. The High Res image measurers 10829 x 8337 which is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 90 megapixel camera.

Afternoon at Eagle Creek Falls

Eagle Creek Falls overlooking Emerald Bay Lake Tahoe, California made from 72 high dynamic range frames, stitched together with Kolor and CC2014 and finished in LR5. The High Res image measurers 23465 x 18500 which is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 323 megapixel camera.

Emerald Bay Lake Tahoe

Emerald Bay Lake Tahoe, California. This image was made up of 20 High Dynamic Range frames, stitched together with Kolor and CC2014 and finished in LR5. The High Res image measurers 13465 x 7926 which is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 106 megapixel camera.

Sunrise at Eagle Falls

Sunrise at Eagle Falls overlooking Emerald Bay Lake Tahoe, California. This image was made up of 25 High Dynamic Range frames, stitched together with Kolor and CC2014 and finished in LR5. The High Res image measurers 12905 x 9452 which is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 121 megapixel camera.

Daybreak at Eagle Falls

Daybreak at Eagle Falls overlooking Emerald Bay Lake Tahoe, California. This image was made up of 25 High Dynamic Range frames, stitched together with Kolor and CC2014 and finished in LR5. The High Res image measurers 13829 x 9477 which is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 131 megapixel camera.

First Light at Eagle Falls

First Light at Eagle Falls overlooking Emerald Bay Lake Tahoe, California. This image was made up of 95 High Dynamic Range frames, stitched together with Kolor and CC2014 and finished in LR5. The High Res image measurers 15978 x 9787 which is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 156 megapixel camera.

Sunset of Fire

July 28, 2014 - Sunset looking west into the El Portal Fire near Yosemite Park. This image was made up of 21 High Dynamic Range frames, stitched together with Kolor and CC2014 and finished in LR5. The High Res image measurers 7625 x 3918 which is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 29 megapixel camera.

Mono Sunrise

Mono Lake Sunrise. This image was made up of 32 High Dynamic Range frames, stitched together with Kolor and CC2014 and finished in LR5. The High Res image measurers 10578 x 5444 which is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 57 megapixel camera.

Point Dume Cove

Point Dume Cove, Malibu Beach, California. This image was made up of 53 High Dynamic Range frames, stitched together with Kolor and CC2014 and finished in LR5. The High Res image measurers 19689 x 9153 which is the equivalent of capturing this image with a 180 megapixel camera. If you look closely you will see a solitary figure of a bare young lady at the water’s edge, with her boyfriend back on the beach buried in the white sand up to his neck.

Salt Lake Temple Reflections

Reflections of Light.
Many years ago, I married my beautiful bride, in this sacred Temple, not only for this life but for all eternity. Now with 7 children and many grandchildren later, I better understand the true meaning of love. She is even more beautiful to me now.
I took this on my lunch hour back in October 29, 2012 with my iPhone 4s (multiple exposures). Sometimes you get that feeling that you just need to break away from your desk job and do some photography.
The image size is 5953x7000, that is the equivalent of a 41 megapixel camera.

Silver Lake Flats Road

Aspen trees high in the Wasatch Mountains on the Silver Lake Flats Road. The image is made up from 20 images stitched together with Kolor finished with LR and CS6. Shot with my favorite old Carl Zeiss 2,8/21mm Distagon mounted on a Canon 5d MK3. This image measures 10000 x 8624 pixels. That is the equivalent of an 86 megapixel sensor.